When it comes to books nowadays, you’ll hear many terms thrown around pretty regularly:

Ebook, PDF, Kindle, Nook, ePub, .mobi…the list goes on. We don’t blame you for being confused…it’s confusing.

Don’t fret, we’re here to make some sense of this stuff for you.

Luckily, despite the confusing terms, dot-whatever file types and cute device names, there are really only three different electronic book formats we need to worry about. Let’s look at each of these.

But first, we best play Socrates and clarify our language and terms a bit.

Standard Electronic Book Definitions

Ebook: Generically, ebook just means “electronic book.” That means it’s read on a computer or hand-held device. If what you’re reading is on a screen of any type and not on paper, it’s an ebook.

However, when you see “download my new ebook” on the internet, about 99% of the…

Welcome to the new Charfish Design…uh…design!

A bit about the new design, what prompted it and what’s coming up:

First off, the new design was built to be fast. Google is up to new things as usual, one of which is determining search rankings based on site speed. The old site was a bit more graphic-intense and wasn’t quite as fast as it should be.

Of course, hosting makes a difference in that as well, and we’re currently looking into new hosting solutions as well. But for now, the site, code and images herein should be fast enough for even the stingiest of search algorithms.

More fun than a kiddie pool full of colored balls, minus the urine.

More important than site speed, at least to us, was just having some plain old fun. I wanted to get away from any sort of dark, murky aspect this site had in…

Why a manifesto?

Because in a world where everyone’s a designer, designing isn’t enough anymore. Clients want to know what’s behind their projects and the people that do them.

Some say technology is making our world smaller but it’s really just making it more anonymous.

There are professionals from every field available online. You can order groceries, do your banking and hire a lawyer whose face you’ll never see, all from the comfort of your keyboard. Whatever you’re looking for is available in legions.

So the question is no longer whether or not you can find someone to do the work. You can.

The question is: who’s going to do it? It’s about you and me and our personal branding. It’s about the people behind the scenes, what they do and how they arrive at their magic.

It’s about the quality you’ll present to this growing world of quantity.

In…

Free Paint Textures for your designing pleasure. Oh yes!

Everyone has spent the last month or so crying for the lack of free items, I know. So here you are, some funky peeling-paint textures. You can print these out and frame them for your living room, or you can download them and make your friends jealous with your growing free textures folder. Yay.

About the paint textures

There is nothing I like better than peeling paint. Seriously. I see it anywhere and I have to stop and just look at it. It is layers and layers of pure awesomeness.

Anyway, each of these 3 textures are .jpg’s and are in one size: 3872×2592. The total file size is only 4.2 MB (quick download!).

If you end up using them on something and it looks super rad, you should share it here. I love awesome stuff. Especially when I…

Question: When it comes to putting out your own ebook, is a standard Word template good enough?

Answer: Hahahahahahaha!

We are continuing today with the series on ebook design. This time we’re going to discuss the bare-minimum quality that ANY ebook should have. By bare-minimum we mean an ebook that at first appearance won’t make your audience laugh or feel they’ve been ripped off.

This post is based in part on an email I received and which got me thinking. Basically, the email said:

“Look, I really just need a cover. The inside doesn’t need to be anything special because it’s going to be a freebie anyway. People won’t be expecting much.”

Mmm…no.

First off, if your friend gave you a bunch of hand-me-down clothes that didn’t fit you and looked like something from the early ’70s, complete with sequins, would you wear them because they were free?

And second,…

Longing for more? You can find all of our posts in the archive →